Stores and store roles

Set up inventory stores at each centre, choose the right store type, and give staff the store roles they need to receive, move and dispense stock.

A store is a place where you keep stock at a centre: the pharmacy, a central store, a ward cupboard, the OT, the lab. Every quantity in LeapHealthOS belongs to a store, and every stock action (receiving, moving, dispensing) happens against a store. This page is for administrators who set up stores and decide which staff can work with each one.

Set up your stores and their staff before you import items or start billing medicines. Without at least one active pharmacy store, the pharmacy screens have nothing to show and prescriptions cannot be billed from stock.

Where to find it

Open SettingsInventory Settings. The screen has two tabs: Stores and Suppliers.

Only administrators see this menu. See Roles and permissions.

Stores are not service counters

A pharmacy service counter is a walk-in queue point where patients wait to be called. A pharmacy store is where stock is held. The two are set up separately and are not linked. See Service counters.

Store types

Choose the type that matches how the store is used. Some screens look only at one type.

Store type	Use it for	Where it is used in LeapHealthOS
`PHARMACY`	The dispensing pharmacy	SettingsInventoryPharmacy, the Pharmacy prescription queue and pharmacy billing. CSV opening stock goes here.
`CENTRAL`	Main or general store (housekeeping, stationery, bulk stock)	SettingsInventoryGeneral Store
`WARD`	Stock kept on a ward	No dedicated screen yet
`OT`	Operation theatre stock	No dedicated screen yet
`LAB`	Laboratory consumables	No dedicated screen yet
`EMERGENCY`	Emergency department stock	No dedicated screen yet
`QUARANTINE`	Stock set aside, for example recalled or damaged items	No dedicated screen yet

Stores of the types without a screen can still receive stock through transfers from another store (see Stock in, stock out and transfers), but you cannot browse their stock in LeapHealthOS today.

Create a store

Open the Stores tab

Administrator

Settings > Inventory Settings

Stay on the Stores tab and click Add Store.

Expected result: The Create Store dialog opens.

Fill in the store details

Complete the fields:

Centre: the centre the store belongs to. You cannot change it later.
Store Name: the name staff see in the store picker, for example "Main Pharmacy".
Store Code: a short code. It must be unique within the centre.
Store Type: one of the types above. It starts as PHARMACY.

Save

Click Create.

Expected result: The message "Store created" appears and the store is listed as Active. If you have a staff profile, you are automatically given the MANAGER role at the new store.

If you see "Inventory store code already exists at this centre", pick a different code.

Your organisation may use its own store form

If your implementation team has published a store form for the Inventory settings placement, the Create Store dialog shows that form instead of the built-in fields. Editing a store always uses the built-in fields.

Find, edit and deactivate stores

Use the toolbar above the list to narrow it down:

Search: type part of a store name ("Search stores...").
Centre: show stores at one centre.
Store type: show one type.

Each row shows the store name and code, Type, Centre and Status. Open the row menu (the three dots) for these actions:

Action	What it does
Edit store	Change the name, code, type or status. The centre is locked.
Manage staff roles	Give or remove store roles (see below).
Deactivate	Marks the store Inactive. Nothing is deleted.
Reactivate	Makes an inactive store active again.

Deactivating keeps the store's stock records, but the store stops being usable for day-to-day work: medicine lines on a bill cannot be dispensed from an inactive store. Deactivate a store only when nobody bills or moves stock from it any more.

Keep exactly one active pharmacy store per centre if you import stock

The CSV import puts opening stock into the centre's pharmacy store. It only works when the centre has exactly one active PHARMACY store. With none, or with two, every stock row in the file fails. See Items, SKUs and CSV import.

Store roles

Store roles control who can change stock at a particular store. A person can hold several roles at the same store, and different roles at different stores.

Role	Can do
`MANAGER`	Everything below, plus: receive stock in one step (Record inward and CSV opening stock), approve or reject goods receipts and stock adjustments, manage purchase orders and reorder rules, release a quarantined batch or mark it expired, and assign or remove store roles.
`RECEIVER`	Create a goods receipt that waits for a manager's approval.
`DISPENSER`	Transfer stock to another store (Record outward) and record internal consumption.
`AUDITOR`	Raise a stock adjustment for approval and quarantine a batch.

Several of these actions have no screen yet

Approving goods receipts, purchase orders, stock adjustments, store reorder rules, internal consumption and batch quarantine, release or expiry have no screen in LeapHealthOS yet; your implementation team can set them up for you. On screen, store roles matter mainly for Record inward (needs MANAGER), Record outward (needs DISPENSER or MANAGER), CSV stock import (needs MANAGER) and managing staff roles (needs MANAGER).

Billing a prescription does not need a store role; it follows the normal billing permissions. See Pharmacy queue, billing and dispensing.

Access that is not listed on the store

Some staff can work with a store because of the inventory access they hold for their part of the organisation, rather than a role assigned to them on the store. That access does not appear in the Store Staff Roles dialog, which only lists roles assigned directly. If someone can work with a store but is not listed, ask your administrator about their access. See Org tree, reporting lines and access scope.

Assign or remove a store role

Open the store's roles

Store manager or administrator

Settings > Inventory Settings

On the Stores tab, open the row menu for the store and click Manage staff roles.

Expected result: The Store Staff Roles dialog lists everyone with a role at this store, with Staff, Role and Assigned On.

Choose the person and role

Pick the person in Staff. The list shows active staff assigned to the store's centre, with their staff type. Pick the Role. It starts as DISPENSER.

Assign

Click Assign.

Expected result: The message "Role assigned" appears and the person is added to the list.

To take a role away, click the remove icon on that row and confirm. Assigning a role that was removed earlier makes it active again.

If you see "You need the MANAGER role at this store to assign or remove roles." instead of the Staff and Role fields, you are not a manager of this store. Ask an existing manager or an administrator.

Do not remove the last manager

If you remove your own MANAGER role, LeapHealthOS asks you to confirm. If you were the only manager, nobody except an administrator can manage roles at that store afterwards.

Store roles and notifications

Store roles are also used to send messages. A notification rule with the STORE_ASSIGNED strategy sends to the staff of the store involved, optionally only to one role, for example low-stock alerts to the store's managers. See Notification events and recipient strategies and Batches, expiry and low-stock alerts.

inventorypharmacystoresstore rolespermissionsadmin